World Music CD Reviews North American

As with another up-and-coming Landry from Louisiana, one whose first name is Drew, Gill Landry’s musical influences come from a disparate mix of Southern roots music. The title track, which features trumpet and a musical saw, could almost pass for a Townes Van Zandt song although it’s too good to be dismissed merely as derivative. As with the other two groups that have been his claims to fame until now, the Kitchen Syncopators and, to a lesser extent, Old Crow Medicine Show, Landry is a back to basics kind of artist. “Mexico,” for example, features clarinet and trumpet but the arrangement is still bare bones, and it’s all the more effective for being so. Based on this auspicious and often somber solo debut, Landry, who calls his style Gulf Coast Hobohemian, and his above-mentioned namesake are two artists who have the potential to become known far beyond their home state.